


Be My Guest

by CeCe, trinklton



Series: Be My Guest (Darkiplier) [1]
Category: Antisepticeye - Fandom, Darkiplier - Fandom, acksepticeye, markiplier - Fandom
Genre: Almost Rape, Beauty and the Beast AU, Blood, F/M, Fear, Fighting, Gore, OC, Original Character - Freeform, Sass, Soulmate AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-06
Updated: 2017-05-11
Packaged: 2018-10-28 17:14:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10835724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CeCe/pseuds/CeCe, https://archiveofourown.org/users/trinklton/pseuds/trinklton
Summary: Annadelle Lucile is a small town girl who has nightmares of a place devoid of all life. She finds out very quickly that her home isn't safe anymore and that her family was not at all as normal as she thought it was.





	1. Chapter One: Nightmares

I was sleeping again, I knew I was sleeping. My feet were flat but they weren’t touching ground, my arms were out at my sides but the air felt heavy, like the darkness around my was a fog instead of clear air. I wasn’t breathing, or at least it didn’t feel like it. Despite my open eyes everything stayed completely void of light, like it wasn’t just black, it was the color behind stars. My hands reach out and my fingers meet someone else’s hand. Their hands are veiny and strong and I grab a hold of them as tightly as I can. 

“Where am I? Who are you?” My voice is delayed, like it’s reaching my ears long after I say it. I can feel them, like their emotions rolled off of them in waves. They were smiling. Their wrist twists and I gasp, reaching forward with my other hand to grab their wrist again. 

“No, please don’t let go!” If they let me go I’d be alone here, I didn’t want to be alone. Their hand pulls away and I shout, falling forward. 

“No!” I lunge forward, finding myself in my bed, sweating way too much for an early spring night. 

“What the- okay it was all just a dream-” My hands shake as they reach up to run through my hair. My dog, Marlow, jumps onto the bed and licks my face, making me smile. 

“It was a dream-” I toss the blankets off my legs and heave myself off my bed, swaying towards the bathroom. 

That place, it felt so real, but it was just a dream and I’ve had lucid dreams before, everyone has, right? I step out of the shower and brush my hand over the mirror to wipe away the fog, for a second I catch a glimpse of a different pair of eyes in the mirror, electric blue. A laugh reverberates in my ears and I back up into the wall, eyes widening and heartbeat quickening. A second later and it’s my own eyes staring back at me. With a sigh and a shake of my head I get dressed. 

Marlow is anxious for a walk by the time I get downstairs, pulling at the leash and dragging it across the floor as I get my shoes on. I hook it onto his collar, letting him pull me out the door with a laugh. I barely had enough time to grab the basket I used for shopping before I was being pulled down the front steps of my porch. 

“Marlow! Marlow! Slow down, speed racer.” He doesn’t hear me until I reach the first telephone pole closest to the house to do his business on. 

Across the street is the old guy that’s lived across from me for too many years to remember meeting him for the first time. The market in the middle of the small town is slowly waking up, a couple of people are putting out fresh fruits, and the new guy is setting up his farm stand.

“Good morning, Anna.” George, the fruit seller, says to me as I pick up a few containers of strawberries and blueberries. 

“Morning, George, how’s your kids?” Just as I say it George’s two girls come running out of the house playing tag and laughing loudly. I watch them with a smile. 

“Hyper, as always. How’s your kid?” George reaches down to pet Marlow’s head and sneak him a piece of an apple. 

“Nice one.” I roll my eyes and walk away, ignoring Marlow pulling on the leash. 

I stopped by the bakery’s stand, paying for two loads of bread and some homemade dog treats. I debated on getting some muffins when I heard Marlo's start to growl. When I look over at him he’s standing on edge, ears up and teeth bared at a man standing only a few feet from me. He looks unaffected by Marlow, and he gives off a weird vibe that makes me feel incredibly unsettled. 

“Marlow, don’t growl.” I pet Marlow between his ears but he doesn’t budge. I give the man an apologetic smile. 

“I’m really sorry, he’s not usually this bad around people.” I apologize, pulling Marlow away and saying I’m sorry again as I walk towards my house again. 

“Marlow, you never growl at people.” I sit down on the front steps of my porch, ruffling Marlow’s fur and looking him over worriedly. 

Marlow came to work with me, he helped the little kids with Downs syndrome and Autism feel safe in their surroundings. If there was something wrong that he was growling I should know, shouldn't I? But he seemed perfectly fine. I brushed it off as something that dogs did, he thought he was protecting me didn't he? I pick up my book from the table on the porch and sit down on the swing, Marlow was already settling in for a nap in the shade underneath it by the time I sat down. 

I was barely through the fourth chapter when I dosed off, warm from the sun. I go back to that dream. I can’t feel the sun on my skin anymore, my fingers are frigid, my breath would come out in a fog in this weather, but I can't tell because I still can’t see. I reach out, expecting to find the same person I felt before but nothing came as my fingers raked right through the thick air. The dark fog around me was starting to come into focus, almost like there was a light above me. Or maybe I was the light. 

A pause. 

The moving of a breeze through the air. 

Silence. 

I scream, a hand had landed on my shoulder and spun me around. I faced the man that Marlow had growled at in the market this morning. He’s far too close for comfort, his face barely three inches from mine and his eyes looking right into me, like he could see my soul. Against my better judgement I reach out to touch him, my hand landing on his collarbone, he feels solid but I know, somehow, that if I pushed a little bit harder my hand would go right through him and he would become the black fog that surrounds me. 

“Who are you?” His fingers dig into my arms and I wriggle slightly, he was starting to hurt me. He shakes me. “WHO ARE YOU?” 

“ANNA!” I shout, trying to push away from him only for my hands to go through him just like I knew they would, I was scared now, he was hurting me. “Let me go! Let me go! You’re hurting me!” 

He does what I say and I fall backwards again, waking up back on my porch swing, rocking from the force of the wind. Marlow lifts his head when I close my book with a sharp snap. Standing on the sidewalk is the guy from my dream, staring me down. Before I can think about how creepy that is I’m running at him, my hands fisting his suit jacket and pressing him as hard as I can against the siding of someone’s garage. He doesn’t even flinch. 

“Who are you? What are you doing to me?” I’m too angry to think about how scared I am as my ears start ringing and the frigid feeling returns to my fingers. 

“My name is Dark.” He puts his hands on my wrists and pushes me away from him despite me using all the strength I could to keep my hands where they were. 

“What did you do to me?” I keep my feet where they are even though I’m scared, he shouldn’t get to have power over me. 

“Nothing, unfortunately. Though I’d still love to get inside that fragile little mind of yours.” He lifts his hand up and touches my temple, pushing back some of my hair slowly. 

“Don’t touch me.” I knock his hand away roughly. He chuckles lowly at me. 

“Do you really mean that?” His hand lifts my wrist and trails up my forearm, stopping at my elbow. My eyes look at his hand but I can see him smiling from the corner of my eye, he’s happy I’m being affected by him. 

“St-stay away from me.” I finally give in to my thoughts and take a big step back, away from him and his way-too-nice touch. 

“Not a chance.” He grins widely at me as I run back across the street and into my house. 

I slide down the inside of my front door, holding my elbow close to my chest. I’m shaking, when had I started shaking? Marlow lays down next to me and puts his head on my thigh, looking up at me sadly. I try to take a deep breath, wanting to calm my heart from beating out of control. Marlow whimpers and I repeat him, starting to cry. I don’t know why I’m crying, not really, was I being stalked? I had to get away from here. The cabin, the cabin would work. I could just stay for a little while. 

I wipe my eyes and make my way to my room, throwing clothes into a duffel bag haphazardly with tears still brimming in my eyes. I need a shower, I can still feel his hand on me, his eyes staring at me in amusement as I react to him, I could feel his fingers on my temple and behind my ear. I needed to feel clean. A hot shower didn't fix anything, I scrubbed until my skin was raw and red but it didn't help. He got under my skin and I hated that I liked it. 

With everything loaded into my car and Marlow laying comfortably in the backseat I drive off, looking back in my rear view mirror to see no one standing there. I sigh and relax into the driver's seat, he didn't know where I was going, he couldn’t find me.


	2. Chapter Two

I took the long way to the cabin up in the mountains, even though I knew that no one was following me. I parked behind the cabin so no one who drove past would see my car, I entered through the back door and kept the lights off. The cabin was vacant, not a single living thing inhabited the dusty rooms anymore. My grandmother and grandfather were long gone, cancer took my Grammy and grief took my Popop. They loved each other, despite their flaws and their fights, they were the love I wanted. I could see them everywhere. My Popop sitting at the kitchen table reading a newspaper and listening to his old music on his old radio, and my grandmother would be drawing her portraits of him. She probably produced thousands over the years and the unfinished ones rested in brown paper wrapping in the kitchen to keep the dust on them. I can still remember her hands shaking from the cancer treatments, the frustration in her eyes when she didn’t have the strength for a week enough to lift a pencil. The image of Popop standing beside her casket muttering about women living longer than men and that he’ll see her in the void soon.

“You loved them.” I scream and Marlow barks loudly in warning. I flick the light on, it’s the same guy from town, Dark. “Love is… not unknown to me, but I’ve never felt something like the books describe. What does it feel like?”

I was shaking again but a thought rose through my fear, if he wanted to kill me, I’d already be dead.

“It feels like…” I trail off, thinking of words to describe the feeling of love, “It feels like being devoted to a person, you’d die for them in a heartbeat. It’s the fire that runs through you when they’re gone. It’s a warm feeling that spreads through your chest like pride when you see them succeed.”

“That sounds..” He thinks for a second- “positive?”

“Why are you here?” I walk behind the island, trying to put something in between us instinctively.

“I am here, _pet_ ,” He takes a step closer, hands behind his back, completely in control without being violent, “because I can _feel_ you _yearning_ for me.”

“I’m not-”

“You aren’t doing it on purpose, so I guess it really isn’t your fault, but either way you’re going to die.” Dark takes another step closer and Marlow growls louder, baring his teeth and getting ready to lunge at him as I look around me for a weapon- anything to fight off this maniac.

“You aren’t going to kill me.” I grab a knife, holding it behind my back while Dark is distracted by Marlow’s growling. Dark raises an eyebrow as he looks back at me.

“Oh?” He asks, more taunting than curious.

“If you wanted me dead I’d be gone already. So, Dark, why are you hesitating?” I don’t know what it was that made me so confident. Maybe it was because the only living things I’d leave behind after I die would be my dog and a house plant.

“Why am I-?” He cuts himself off, his hands slamming down on the island making me jump, he sort of pops out of focus for a second before regaining himself with a deep breath.

“You’re too…bright. You know what that means, you just don’t want to face it.” I had no idea what he was talking about, I’m too bright? What does that even mean?

“You’re the beauty to my beast, the light to my darkness, my other half? Ringing a bell?” He’s getting more irritated by the second, my ears start ringing.

“Soulmates?” He rolls his shoulders with a sigh when I talk.

“You can call it that, if it makes you feel any better. You’re bound to me, and I’m bound to you, we can’t escape each other. Unfortunately.” I put the knife down and he looks at it with a glint in his eyes.

“No,” Dark brings his eyes back to mine- “this isn’t some shitty soulmate AU fic, this is my life!”

“You’re right, this is your life. You can thank your grandmother for your curse.” I blink and he’s gone, Marlow is back at my side, sniffing at my ankles and the palm of my hand.

“What did Grammy do, Marlow?” I ask him, knowing he can’t reply, he licks my hand.

After dinner I take to my grandmother’s old room, opening up box after box of packed away things, looking for a journal or something that could explain what was happening. With no luck by midnight I go to my own room, taking the blankets out of a storage container and letting Marlow curl against me to sleep comfortably. I go back to that place, the endless darkness, but instead of getting grabbed by Dark there’s no one else there.

“Annadelle.” I recognize that voice. Grammy.

“Grammy?” I could feel her smile as I turned around in my spot, finding her enveloped in a dim light six feet to my right.

“My little gem.” She opens her arms and I run right at her, hugging her for the first time in over a decade.

“Let me look at you,” she touches my face as I smile up at her- “you look so much like your mom, but you have your dad’s smile.”

“Grammy, what is this place?” I look around us, her hands are still holding mine. Other than us there’s no more light.

“It’s called the Void, it’s where people like your Popop come from.” I get confused very quickly, people like my Popop? He was from Maine.

“People like Popop?” I ask her, wanting to know the answers to why all this was happening to me.

“Just find the journal, it’s in your room at the cabin, you’ll find everything in there.” Her voice is just as soft as I remember it, her smile and her eyes even softer, but all I can feel is confusion. I take my chance however, to say exactly what I never said enough.

“I love you, so much.” She smiles even wider, her thumbs rub the back of my hands.

“I love you too, little gem.” Her hands let go and I’m falling again. I wake up in a gasp in my bed with Marlow still sleeping on me.

“The journal.” I say as I stand up, opening the door to the closet and pulling down the boxes inside there.

I wanted proof that I wasn’t going insane and seeing things where there weren’t things. A leather spined journal falls on my head as I pull the last of the boxes from the shelves. I drop the boxes, probably breaking something, and pick up the dusty journal. It’s labeled: To My Little Gem and below that in smaller print is: From Grammy and Popop. The first page is titled with a scratchy ‘Anna-’ which means my Grammy wrote it.

_I’m sorry, I never meant to have children, I never meant to have grandchildren, and I never meant to marry an interdimensional being from space (_ The Void! _) The Void, right, sorry. It’s still cooler if you say ‘Space’. Anyways, now that I’ve said sorry, like a proper adult, I can get to the weird stuff. Like the story of how me and your Popop met: Picture this in your head Anna, me, young, with black hair still shining and unachy limbs. I come across this guy, who is the epitome of gorgeous. He’s got brown hair and dark green eyes that almost look black, he’s wearing a suit, and when we walk past each other he bumps right into me! And he doesn't say sorry either! So what did young Grammy do then? Well, she turned right around and said “Apologize for bumping into me!” And this man says “No.” and simply walks away from me. Now, I wasn’t having any of that, no way, so I stomped right after him and I told him it’s impolite to not say sorry. Of course, he looks at me like I’ve slapped him, I don't think he was used to people talking back to him but I’m nearly fuming in anger and I won't go away until he says he’s sorry. He does apologize, after a minute of me glaring at him, and offers to buy me dinner as an extended apology. I wasn't going to accept but he was handsome and I was completely broke so I wouldn’t turn down a free meal if I knew what was good for me. He gets to talking halfway through our dinner about how he wasn't supposed to be here, interacting with humans, or away from The Void at all, because The Leader would punish him severely for it. I thought he was insane, obviously, so I agreed quietly and ate my meal. But then I started to have these dreams about a place that was beyond darkness, and when he showed at my door apologizing for them I had no choice but to believe everything he told me at our dinner. But, even as I came to the realization that everything he told me was true I had to help your Popop. He had been injured in the fight, and he needed time to recover. He told me to run away from him, being with him was a curse, not a blessing. But I was stubborn, and I wanted to help him, he knew I wasn’t going to just abandon him to fight off any other beings like himself while he was still injured. I spent three weeks helping him recover, and within those three weeks he had charmed me and gotten under my skin in a way that made me feel free._

Your Grammy is sleeping now, so I’m going to take over in telling you our story. What I said to her about being with me was a curse was true. We spent most of our time running from the Leader’s Force (the police the Leader commands), having romantic relations with humans is strictly prohibited, and void-beings like myself can be punished severely for it. We found this cabin, it protects against all void-beings unless they’re directly linked to someone inside. It was built on sacred soil, something frowned upon by most of humanity but very beneficial to anyone who wants to get away from the Leader and his Force. I would love to say that when your mother was born it was the happiest day of my life. But sadly, it wasn’t. I knew that by having a child with a human I was linking two souls together for eternity, I knew she was damned to be the soulmate of a voidling. I told her when she was seventeen, she resented me for never telling her earlier, and she blamed me for her nightmares of a tall blonde haired man that tormented her brain at night. That man, of course, is your father: Feren. From the moment I met him I knew I liked Feren. He took the whole soulmate thing in stride, and he seemed to be whipped by Haley from the moment he met her. He loved you, he loved you so much, and somewhere in the Void he’s waiting for you to come to him. I’m sorry about his death, I never should have let him walk off the property line alone.

Something wet splashes onto the page and splatters over the ink. I bring a hand up to my cheek, I was crying, when had I started crying? It felt like they were still alive, like a part of them was etched into the paper along with every pen stroke. Next to my grandfather’s handwriting a small picture is held up by a paper clip. My father is sitting in a chair in a hospital room, holding a wrapped up baby in his arms and smiling at the camera. I pull it out and look at the back: ‘Feren and our baby, Anna. January 7th 1993’ My mom wrote that, I smile at the picture as I slip it back into the paper clip.

“What are you reading?” I jump at the sudden break in silence. Dark stands with his hands in his pockets at the end of the couch. He looks unimpressed.

“A journal, my grandmother left to me to explain… everything.” I look back to the journal, flipping the page to start reading again.

Anna, it’s important to remember that no matter what your soulmate can’t hurt you. They are incapable of causing you pain, ever. Don’t be afraid of them, whoever they may be. They can’t hurt you, remember that. I just hope that one day you’ll end with someone positive. 

“What does it say?” I huff and put the book down, giving Dark a glare. Now that I knew he couldn't hurt me I was going to give him Hell in whichever way I saw fit.

“That you can't hurt me, even if you tried. That they’re sorry for doing this to me, that they’re sorry for letting my father walk outside the prosperity lines alone, they’re just sorry for everything.” I put it on the coffee table, standing up to feed Marlow who was lounging in the back porch in the sun. Dark follows me into the kitchen.

“What else? You’ve been reading all morning.” I turn around to glare at him.

“You were watching me? That’s creepy dude, just plain fucking creepy. Stop watching me.” I slide Marlow’s bowl over to him and he perks his head up to start eating it, barely paying any kind to Dark this time.

“I’m keeping an eye on you.” I roll my eyes.

“Am I on suicide watch? Because, just in case you didn’t know, the house was built on sacred ground. Unless an interdimensional being is connected to me like you are they ain’t getting anywhere close to me. So stop watching me.” He doesn’t seemed pleased that I’m talking back to him but it makes me feel all the more powerful.

“I’m not leaving.” He says firmly, his eyes staring right into mine.

“Okay, fine, you aren’t leaving, whatever. Stay and see if I give two shits.” I sit back down on the couch and pick up the book again. Dark sits in the arm chair and watches me.

_Don’t let your Popop scare you, little gem, he’s always blowing things out of proportion. But he is right, whoever you end up with, they can’t hurt you, despite how much they might want to. I hope you end up with someone like your father or your grandfather. Not someone like (god forbid) D̵͚̻͕̠̯̤͉̿̎͂͂̇͛͒̏͢͡ă̢̨̲͔̲̹͊̋̄̄̚͘͢͟r̰͔͈̣̘͊͗͐̔̈́͆́̔͜͞k̢̠̺̥̜̙͙̜̘̓̓͑̒̑̑̑͞_

I tense up, my eyes staring at the name on the page in shock. Dark? Why wouldn’t they want me to end up with him? I mean, so far he’s been a total asshole but maybe there was a softness underneath his hard shell. He couldn’t hurt me, and we were going to be stuck with each other forever so he might as well get used to me. Dark knows I’m tense, he’s been watching me read since he sat down.

“What did it say?” I sit back, trying to look as nonchalant as possible.

“Are you bad? Like, are you a bad person- interdimensional being?” He gives me a smile that makes stomach twist into knots.

“By humanity’s standards, yes. To you I’d be the devil in disguise, if I could just wrap my hands around your throat.” Suddenly, as fast as I blink he’s standing in front of me with his hands barely a few centimeters from my throat. I gasp and look up at him with wide eyes.

“You can’t hurt me, remember?” I say with a slightly shaking voice as I push his hands away from my neck. He straightens his back with a sneer. “If I could you’d be dead already, trust me.” I roll my eyes and stand up, walking away from him with my book still in my hands, towards the kitchen.

“Whatever helps you sleep better at night.” He leans against the archway while I open the fridge, no food, of course. No one’s been living here for years, whatever food would be in there would probably be rotted beyond belief.

“I don’t sleep.” I roll my eyes again, something my grandmother used to say would make my eyes pop out of my head when I was little.

“Well then, why don’t you stay here and not sleep while I go get some groceries.” I barely make it to the door with my purse in my hand when he’s stopping me.

“I’m coming with you.” He doesn’t make it sound like it’s a question, it’s more like he asserting himself into the situation and expecting me to let him stay there.

“Fine.”


	3. A Shopping Trip With A Space Alien

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Almost rape, talk about rape, don't read if you don't like it my duders.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Almost rape, the bad stuff. Cursing.

Dark pushes the cart, something that seems a little funny to me. He’s an interdimensional being who has the ability to phase in and out of view and now he’s pushing a cart for me? I can barely suppress my giggles and he seems very unimpressed. 

 

“Oh my goodness, Annie Eden?” I turn towards the voice, finding an old woman who’s hunched over her shopping cart staring at me with a bright smile. 

 

“Uhm, yes?” Dark puts a hand on my shoulder when I walk towards her, we never really had that many visitors to the cabin and I don’t remember people that well from when I was a kid. 

 

“It’s me, your auntie Alice! I haven’t seen you since you were just barely reaching my thigh. You’ve grown so much!” I smile and brush Dark’s hand off, walking over to hug her. 

 

“I haven’t seen you in so long! How’s uncle John?” I put on my high pitched relative-greeting voice as I talk and she smiles at me with no teeth. 

 

“Good, he’s good. I mean, he’s still coming home smelling like the lake every day but what can I do? We’ve been married for forty years and he still loves that lake more than he loves me.” I laugh, taking all the appropriate steps of greeting a relative I haven’t seen in nearly ten years. 

 

“Hey, fish is good for your body, he’s helping out!” She laughs now, her eyes looking to Dark who was standing behind me looking like he was made of stone. Was he even breathing? 

 

“He likes to think so. But, who’s this? You’ve found yourself a husband!” I nearly choke on my own spit but I compose myself quickly enough so that neither her nor Dark notice it. 

 

“No, no, he’s not my husband. He’s just- staying up at the cabin with me for the time being.” She gives me this all knowing looking that reminds me of my grandmother when I lied to her as a little kid. 

 

“We’re together, she just doesn’t like to talk about it.” Before my aunt can reply to Dark her phone rings. 

 

“Okay, that’ll be your uncle, I’ll talk to you later.” I nod at her, watching her walk away and press her phone to her ear. I turn around to glare at Dark. 

 

“I am not your girlfriend.” I toss a bag of chips into the cart a little bit more aggressively than was needed but I was mad he said that.  

 

“Don’t abuse the chips because of me, they don’t deserve that.” I glower at him, I was sure that steam was coming out of my ears. 

 

“I have to go to the bathroom so here-” I push the list into his hands- “-get everything on this list and I’ll find you in like five minutes.” 

 

I walk away before he can reply. There’s no one in the dim bathroom besides me, there’s only two stalls and both of them look equally unappealing but hey- beggars can’t be choosers. I wash my hands afterward, sighing and wondering how many things I’m going to have to correct because who knows if Dark’s ever gotten groceries before? Does he even eat? I look up into the mirror and shout, a man was standing behind me, his eyes were the same one I saw in the mirror two days ago. I turn around but he isn’t there, a giggle and static rush through my ears making my hair stand on edge. 

 

“What the fuck?” I was crazy, I was actually crazy now. 

 

“ **A̢҉w̸e̛͏,̵͜ ̢͘͠y’͏r̴e̴͟ ̛so͘͟ ̧f̡͜u̴̢͡n t̡a̕’͠҉ ̷͞m͏e̡͜s̷̴͡s͠ ͞wit̶’** .̳̝͚͉̺̳̦̣͐́̇͗͑̔.” I look back at the mirror and now he’s standing so close to me that I could feel the tips of his shoes against my heels. He pulls my hair behind my shoulder and I try to stop shaking from fear. He leans down to sniff my neck. I try to reach for my phone in my purse but Anti doesn’t give me the chance. 

 

“ **A̕h̴͜,̧̡ ̧̧a̕͢h̷͟,҉̵ ̴͡ah.̢ Th̶e̡r̛e͠’͢s̛ ̵n̵o̴͞ ̷̡̕g̴e͟t͜t̛̛͝i͞n̴’ ̛̕a̵͡w͢a͢y͏̨ ̵̡fr̨͘͠o̧̕m̶̢͢ m̡̕e͏̕,̡ l̵it̶͡t͞le̵͟ r̕҉ab͏bi̴t** .” He pushes my hands down against the sink’s edges and I struggle against him. 

 

“ **I’̷m͜ goinna h̷avę ͝so̕ ͘muc͞h ̧fun with y̵e’,͜ a̛n’ D̷ąr̛k̴y’s̢ g͠o̶nna b͡e͝ ̕so̕ ͡a͘n͝gry.̵ ̧Oh͟,͝ ̛im̢ag͝i̢ne!̕ Į ̵l̨o͞v̨e pl̡ay͞in҉g͘ caţ ̕an’ ҉m͜ouşe w͠it’ ̡h̕im҉,͝ I̸ ̡al͡w͘ay҉s̶ ̨do͠!̨** ” He pulls his hands up my arms and over my stomach, pushing me against him. I’m too scared to move or speak. It dawns on me what’s happening. 

 

“No- No don’t touch me- No, please-” He laughs, his teeth bite into my neck and I bring my hands up to push him away, finally able to move again. 

 

“ **D͝on’̨t̨ m̕a͝ke͡ me s̢hu̴t ̵y̧e’ ͜u͘p,͢ l͘i̕ttl͞e rabbit** .” He chuckles, putting hand over my mouth. I instinctively reach up to try to pull him off of me, he’s so solid, I knew that if I turned around he’d be gone but I was sure the sink was pressing bruises into me from how hard I was pressed against it. I started crying when his hand pushed under my bra. 

 

“ **Anti** !” I shout when I hear Dark’s voice, trying to buck my hips to get this Anti guy off of me. 

 

“ **_Get off my mate_ ** .” Anti just chuckles until Dark rips him off of me and pulls me away from the mirror. I fall almost immediately but Dark puts a strong arm around me to keep me up while my legs stay like jelly.

 

“He was- he was going to-” Anti screams and I jump with a yelp to wrap my arms around Dark’s neck. He puts his other arm around me now too, holding me close to his chest. 

 

“ **G̶͘͜͏̧i̶҉̢͝v͘͜e̷͘͡҉ ̷̸̧̛h̶̴̴̕e͠͡r̕҉͘͠ ̶̢b̷͟͢͝a̸ç͞͠ķ͘͜͜͞!͘͏ ̸͟͝Ģ͏i͜҉͏v̶̷̨̛͟e̵̶͠ ͞͏̕̕h͢͠ȩ͜͝ŗ̷̡ ̵͜b̴͡͠a̧͜c̷̢̡͝k͠!̶͟͞** ” I shake in Dark’s arms, crying and trying to hide from Anti in Dark’s chest. 

 

Before I can say that I need to get out of the bathroom Dark is walking out with me still held against him. I find my feet surprisingly quickly and Dark examines my wrists, there were bruises across them where Anti pushed them into the sink. I tear up and pull my wrists away from him, holding them close to my chest and looking up at him with probably the most pathetic look on my face. 

 

“I’m going to kill him, that bastard, I’m going to tear him to  **_ShREdS_ ** .” I whimper and take a step away from him. His face immediately falls, knowing that he made me scared, he seemed so different than he was before. 

 

“Forgive me.” I take a bigger step back when he takes one closer. 

 

“I’m- I’m going to just wait in the car- buy the stuff, okay?” I walk out the back door of the grocery store, past a few smoking workers outside on their break and towards the parking lot. 

 

I shut the door and sink down into the passenger seat, closing my eyes and brushing away my tears. I just start crying harder, buckling the seat belt hurt because of the bruise on my hips, moving my hands hurt because of the bruises on my wrists, I could still feel Anti’s teeth on my neck. I flick the visor mirror open to find bite marks all over my shoulders. I let out a loud sob. Dark opens the driver’s door and slides into the seat. I lean away from him as he pulls out. He doesn’t say anything, but he holds out his hand palm up as he starts driving. I take it cautiously. 

 

“Did I scare you, princess?” I shake my head no. 

 

“Good, I didn’t mean to. But I will destroy Anti, I’m going to rip him apart for touching you.” I don’t try to protest. 

 

“He’ll hurt you.” A sudden fear enveloped me, I couldn’t let anyone hurt Dark. Dark chuckles in response. 

 

“Oh, princess, Anti couldn’t hurt me if he tried.” 

 

“Is he your-” I sit up in the passenger seat and Dark laughs to cut me off. 

 

“No, no, you’re the only one, we only get one for eternity.” I felt a little bit more at ease knowing that he wasn’t linked to that psychopath. 

 

I just wanted food and sleep, I was tired and I was starting to get hangry. I opted for making soup and going to sleep. Dark was sitting out on the front porch when I went upstairs. I fell asleep the second my head touched the pillow. I go right back to the dream but all I do is stand, I don’t have the energy to do anything else. The fog around me was less illuminated than before, was my light dimmed? 

 

“Little gem?” My grandmother’s hand touches my shoulder and I turn around slowly. “What happened to you?” 

 

“Anti tried to rape me.” I say it like it’s nothing, my voice drawls in the same delay as always and I’m completely lost to emotion. 

 

“He  **_what_ ** ?” My grandfather’s voice is loud but it doesn’t make me jump, I turn back around to look at him. 

 

“He tried to rape me, Dark saved me.” My grandfather is raging, he glows this deep red and then disappears. 

 

“Wait a second, Dark?!” I face my grandmother again. She looks shocked. 

 

“Yep, Dark, he’s my soulmate. He’s a dick, mostly, but he did save me.” My grandmother pulls me into a hug but again, I feel nothing. When she lets go I wake up back in my bed. 

 

It’s just past nine, that’s a reasonable time to wake up. I take a shower and change into normal clothes, trying not to think about the fading bruises on my wrists and hips as I look in the mirror. Dark is sitting on the couch when I come down, his hand on Marlow’s head and Marlow lays across his lap. A collie pretending they’re a lap dog is a funny thing to witness. 

 

“Well, you two are getting along nicely.” I comment as I walk into the kitchen. Dark grimaces as Marlow licks his cheek. 

 

“Okay, animal, get off me.” Dark pushes him off and marlow comes over to me, begging for the uncooked bacon and dry just-add-water pancake mix I now held in my hands. 

 

“Did he call you animal? What a rude space alien, he’s such a rude space alien isn’t he, Marlow?” Marlow barks and jumps up to lick my face as I ruffle his fur. Dark glowers at me from the arch way. 

 

“I am an interdimensional being who can kill people with a snap of my fingers, I’m not a  _ space alien _ .” I nod and smile at him. 

 

“Whatever you say.” I start cooking, feeding Marlow small morsels of bacon as I go as long as he sits. Dark just watches. 

 

“Dark, you’re doing the creepy thing again.” He doesn’t avert his eyes. I bite into my egg sandwich, unfazed. 

 

“Should we be talking about yesterday right now?” I stop eating my sandwich and I look up at him. 

 

“Should we be? What’s there to talk about? Anti tried to rape me, you saved me, my grandfather is going to kill him now, so what’s there to talk about? It happened, it’s over, if he touches me again I’ll tear his fingers off with pliers.” Dark chuckles as I make my threat. 

 

“You’re adorable when you make threats.” I continue eating, hoping to seem completely unfazed by his comment. 

 

“I’m not cute, I’m deadly.” Dark sits across from me at the island, staring at me with a look of no nonsense and maybe a little bit of fondness. 

 

“If you really want to tear Anti’s fingers off with a pair of pliers… as soon as I catch him-” Dark leans forward in the chair, elbows on the island and fingers interlocked under his chin as he stares into my eyes- “he’s all yours.” 

 

“Good, I’ll scoop his eyes out and put needles underneath his fingernails for touching me. I’ll rip his tongue out and see how well he can run his mouth with no tongue.” I don’t know where my sudden knowledge of torture came from (maybe the Saw movies?) but I knew that I wanted to hurt Anti for what he did to my mental state. Dark seemed happy with my sudden change in character, he was grinning wolfishly at me. 

 

“I’ve got everything you’ll ever need for whatever you wish to do to that little childish imbecile.” I raise my eyebrows as I continue to eat my food. 

 

“Savage.” I point a finger at him with a little giggle. He roll his eyes at me. 

 

With the dishes washed and the dog let out I take a book from the bookshelf to read in the sun of the back porch. I always loved the porch swing, it was the right type of comfy for a nap. Or a book and a nap, both would be good. But I wasn't tired, I just ate food, and now I actually wanted to read without falling asleep. Marlow jumps onto the swing and lays down, Dark sits on a chair, still watching me. 

 

“Creepy thing, Dark, _super_ creepy thing. Go get a book or something, just stop staring at me.” I wave my hand at him, doing something other than staring at me must be really hard for him. 

 

“I _despise_ you.” He says spitefully. Well, his mood changed quickly. I don’t even look up from my book. 

 

“That great, Dark, really great.” There’s a minute of complete silence and I look up to find him gone. I sigh and lean back on the swing. 

 

“Finally, alone.” Marlow tucks his legs closer to him and give a little sigh in his sleep, did Dark bother him? I put a hand on his side and rake my fingers through his fur. 

  
“We’re gonna do great, Marlow. Me and you.” 


	4. A Good Book

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Torture, cursing, crying, being generally shaken.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: torture, cursing, crying, fighting, Anna being shaken by recent events.

Dark doesn’t come back to the house until that night. I’d already eaten dinner and I was settling into bed when I heard him clear his throat from the doorway of my bedroom. 

 

“What?” I ask as I lay down, pulling the blankets over my shoulders and turning away from him. 

 

“I found Anti, like I always do.” I don’t turn back over to look at him. My hand curls around my wrist subconsciously. “I can bring him to you in your dreams if you still want to rip his tongue out.” 

 

“No.” I didn’t want to hurt Anti, I knew it wouldn’t make me feel any better. At the mere mention of his name I could still feel his hands on me, grasping at me like I was his toy. 

 

“Are you sure?” The bed sinks beside my legs and I roll over to find Dark sitting there staring at the wall with his hands on his thighs. 

 

“Yes.” Dark gives me a nod as I talk. 

 

“Go to your grandmother, I will deal with Anti.” He stands up, walking out of the bedroom without another word and shutting the door behind him.

 

It felt good to know that Anti was going to stop being a problem, maybe tomorrow I could even go to the bookstore in town now that he wouldn’t be in every reflective surface. I tuck my head into some blankets and close my eyes. When I open my eyes again I’m in the Void. I find the same thick air and the same lack of light, nothing has changed. I look down at my hands to find myself still glowing a dim light, not nearly as bright as before. I call out for my grandmother only to get no answer. She’s not here, I can tell. 

 

“No, don’t leave me here alone- not here- not now.” I want to fall to the ground and cry until I can’t cry anymore, or maybe I want to hit something. But there isn’t any ground and there’s nothing here to punch. 

 

“Come back!” I shout, wanting to scream until my throat burned and I couldn’t talk for days. 

 

I scream, and light makes a pulse through the endless expanse of the Void like a light bulb exploding. A few dark shapes are outlined by my light and they all turn to look at me before looking away again. 

 

“Fuck you!” I scream, turning around on the spot. “Fuck you and fuck the pogosticks you bounced out on!” 

 

“Keep your voice down.” Someone warns, but I’m too angry to listen. 

 

“No! I will not be quiet! I will not sit by and let people make my decisions for me! So, fuck you! Fuck Dark! Fuck my grandparents and-” They shush me again- “FUCK YOU, ANTI!” 

 

A sort of buzzing electric charge races through the fog as I finally stop screaming, another pulse of light later and I’m panting from shouting. I wanted to hit something, or maybe someone. My heartbeat starts to calm down and I look back down to my hands to see that they’re glowing as brightly as before. So that was what I needed, huh. 

 

“ **P̴rǫ̛te̴c͏̷t̨i͟n͜͟’̡ ̸͘y̶͘’ŗ̡e̕͟ ̧͞p̢͡ŗ͟ec̸͞io͏ưs̸̴ ̷͡l͢i͝t̵t͜l̴̨e҉̧ ̢͝ma̴t͜e҉͘͜, ͞͝҉a̶̢r͢͞e ̧y̴e̶’̶** ?” I feel my stomach sink in dread when I hear his voice. Anti. 

 

“This is what happens when you try to take something that’s  **_MInE_ ** .” I close my eyes and turn around. Anti is standing stock still not even two feet from me, his hands out, needles pushed underneath his fingernails. He’s bleeding, I didn’t even know he  _ could  _ bleed. 

 

“ **O͘h̶,҉͘ ̡̕͜I’͜͠m͜ s̢̕o̸͏ s҉ç͠a̷r͞e̵͞d̷** .” Dark brings a hand up and I catch the glint of a pair of brass knuckles with barbed wire on them as he swings his hand down to backhand Anti. I flinch and turn away, hiding my eyes with both of my hands. Anti spits blood as I look back up. 

 

“We’ve done this song and dance many times before, so let’s cut the shit, shall we?” Dark backhands him twice and each time I flinch as Anti shouts in pain. The brass knuckles fall into the void as Dark slips them off. 

 

“If you  **EVeR** -” Dark grabs the long needles embedded under Anti’s fingernails and twists them- Anti shouts in pain- “so much as  _ look  _ at her ever again, I will destroy you.” 

 

“ **S̸o̴u͡͏n̢̕d͘s͏ ̴̛l̨͡i̧k̷e̴̷̕ f͞u̢͏n** .” Anti smiles toothily at Dark and Dark twists the needles even further into his skin, I close my eyes as Anti screams. 

 

“You don’t want to take it seriously? Fine then, you can stay here for eternity, trapped forever in an endless cycle of pain. Have fun.” Dark turns his back on Anti and starts to walk away, Anti tries to take a step but his foot goes right through the floor. 

 

“ **Da̧̕rk̶͢,͜͜ ͠͏g͠e̵̴͠t̴ ̶͘͟ba̡͟c͏̕k̶ h̡͟͞e̕͟ŗ͝e͠.** **_D̸̂̍ͤ͐̂͢͢͠͏͖̣̹̼̼̤̺͉͎͇Ȧ̧̨̛̝̘̱̟̪̹̾ͫ̀ͮ̑ͣ͋͐ͮ̈́̒Ŗ̛͙̬͓̭̰͖͓̱̩͔͙̳̺̜ͥ̒ͯ̓ͧ͜K̨̛̦̩͓̬͉̫̖̗͓̘̱̝̥͐̅̎͌̊̓̐̓ͫ̊ͫ͒ͯͧͮ̄̍ͭ̋͠ͅ_ ** !”  

 

“Dark-!” I wake up with a start. Dark is standing in my room in less than a second. 

 

“What happened?” He crosses his arms over his chest, maybe he didn’t like that I was taking him away from hearing Anti scream. 

 

“I saw you… with Anti…” His demeanor changes within the second, he looked... ashamed? Did he not expect me to see him torturing Anti? 

 

“Why did you come looking?” He goes from ashamed to angry in a split second. 

 

“I didn’t.” I stand up and face Dark. “Do you think I want to see someone scream in agony?” 

 

“This morning you wanted to push needles under his fingernails for laying his hands on you.” I huff, crossing my arms. 

 

“It’s just something people do! We say we’ll hurt people but we won’t actually torture people, there’s a judicial system here, people get punished for what they do not- not-” I take a deep breath. 

 

“Not tortured endlessly in a limitless Void.” Dark smirks at me as I finish my sentence. 

 

“So would you rather I give him to your police so that he can kill them all?” He knows he’s right and he’s way to smug about it. 

 

“Give him to your police! I know the Leader has some, give him up to them. How hard is it to think logically?” I get closer to him as I talk, becoming increasingly more angry. I hated when people didn't use their heads to think things through. 

 

“I want him to pay for what he did to you-” Dark was getting angry now too, but he didn’t scare me. 

 

“So do I! Do you think I like feeling his hands all over me every second of the day? Do you seriously think I enjoy the fear that courses through me every time I look in a mirror, imaging him standing behind me again? I want him to pay but torturing him for eternity is not going to fix that! He has to be held accountable.” I cross my arms across my chest as I stop in front of him, planting my feet and glaring at him. 

 

“Fine, I’ll deliver him to the Leader’s police tonight. You should eat before you go to the bookstore.” I don't stop glaring at him. 

 

“Don’t read my mind, that’s creepier than the staring.” He just smirks at me as I walk towards the bathroom. 

 

I take possibly the longest shower of my life, it felt really good knowing Anti was not going to be able to hurt me again. As soon as I stepped out of shower I could smell bacon. Was Dark cooking? My stomach rumbled as I walked down the stairs (now completely dressed, mind you) and I took a deep breath as I entered the kitchen. 

 

“You made… food? What do you want?” I sit down at the kitchen island. He’s wearing an apron, I stifle a laugh and he lifts an eyebrow. 

 

“I desire Anti’s destruction, for your animal you call a pet to stop whining at me for food, and for the Leader to never discover where you are. But from you, I want nothing.” I nod, too distracted by the chocolate chip pancake on my plate to really listen to him. 

 

“So,” I say after I inhale half of my pancake, “what’s going to happen to Anti tonight?” 

 

“Well, I’m going to deliver him to the Leader’s police, and they give him a trial before the Leader who will decide his fate. The Leader doesn’t enjoy Anti’s presence within the void as much as I do, I can’t imagine he’ll get anything less than twenty years locked off from humanity for laying hands on a human.” Only twenty years? I’ll still be alive in twenty years, couldn’t it be longer? 

 

“Okay, that sounds…okay.” I didn't want to argue, I really didn't feel like it anymore. 

 

“I’m coming with you into town.” Again, Dark inserts himself into a situation without thinking to ask me first. Again, I let him.  

 

“That’s fine, I don’t care.” I really didn’t care, if he wanted to come with me, he could. Maybe I could throw some shitty hardcover books at his face. 

 

The bookstore is a lot bigger than I remember it. I was always confined to the children’s books section on the ground floor but the good books were always on the top three floors, or so my grandmother always said. We would go there on weekends when I was little and learning to read. Dark takes a seat on a cushioned bench on the second level as I pick out a book. From floor two I could see the ground floor over a balcony and I sat beside Dark to read my book I looked down at the tables. There weren’t many people here, it was a sunday morning after all, but at the table farthest from the bookshelves a woman was sitting with a little girl, helping her sound out words from a children’s book. I watched them for a minute, listening from far away as the little girl struggled to sound out the word ‘Generator’. 

 

“Do they remind you of someone?” Dark asks with a sickeningly sweet smile, I had the feeling that if I told him they reminded me of my grandmother he’d try to hurt them. 

 

“Nope.” I open the book as nonchalantly as possible. It’s titled: The Theory of The ‘Void’ by Alastor Henley. 

 

Dark doesn’t move while I read, not even an inch. He doesn’t breathe, which makes me incredibly uncomfortable for a while until a particularly engrossing paragraph makes me forget about the world for a while. I lean back against the arm of the bench, stretching my legs over Dark’s lap, to which he glares at me but I don’t move them. 

 

‘ _ The ‘Void’ theory has existed for over two thousand years, cave drawings recently discovered in North America display drawings of beings indescribable which are linked by what looks to be a bolt of electricity to a man or woman always drawn with a lighter color around them like the sun, possibly signifying that they’re glowing. Drawings like these were dated separately, a generation apart for a few generations. They would abruptly stop for hundreds of years at a time until more were drawn _ .’ 

 

I knew all of this already, of course, but it was weird to know that the same thing happening to me happened to humans two thousand years ago. I wasn’t the only one, I knew that, but I didn’t think about thousands of years ago. I was thinking that my grandmother had been the first ut obviously she wasn’t. I looked up from my book at the side of Dark’s head, his hand was on my leg now and his thumb was running over my shin bone as he thought about something. When he notices me looking his thumb stops moving and he gives me the same dead-eye stare as usual. 

 

“What do you want?” He asks. 

 

“How old are you?” I ask in return, hoping it isn’t a touchy subject, like how you never as a woman her age or something. 

 

“Three hundred.” He replies quickly, his voice completely monotone. 

 

“Seconds or years?” I ask with a sly smile, liking my sassy comment. Dark blinks, a little stunned by how quickly I had responded. 

  
“Years.” He replies, smirking at me now like I was smirking at him. I glance back down at my book, continuing to read as he half-smiled at me. 


	5. A Dinner Date With The Devil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Death, stabbing, knives, awkwardness, fear.

I walked out of the bookstore with three books in my arms and two in Dark’s. He didn’t seem to like being a glorified bookcase, but it made me incredibly happy to have more books so I think he put up with it for me. I drove home and as soon as we got in the door I picked up the Void theory book again and kept reading it. Dark had his own book, something he got while he was away from me while I looked for books. The plastic protective cover read ‘Beauty And The Beast As Told Through The Ages by Amelio Smith’. I had a feeling it was something different underneath it but I didn’t want to push it so I let him read while I cooked and read. 

 

The book that I was reading stayed the same the whole time I cooked, the author was interviewing some of the people who had been to the Void and most of them had the same experiences I did. The feeling of not breathing (or at least not having to), the thick foggy air, the sensation of floating but standing on the ground at the same time, and the way that their hair stood on end because of the completely foreign place they were in. None of them felt cold however, or at least not like I did. When I was in the Void everything felt cold, my hands and my feet, my nose, every part of my body was lit up by how freezing I was. The only time I actually felt warm was when my grandmother had hugged me and held my hands. 

 

When Dark had touched me in the Void it felt like it hurt, but I realized I was more scared than in pain. Dark couldn’t hurt me and I couldn’t hurt him, that was the rule. He didn’t get underneath my skin, the dreams did. That feeling of being somewhere I wasn’t supposed, the imminent danger and knowing that I was going to be back there even if I didn’t want to face it. From the island Dark shuts his book and I jump a little bit as I’m snapped out of thinking. 

 

“I need to go to the trial.” Before I can reply with an ‘okay’ he’s already gone. I shut my own book and mix in the sauce to my mac and cheese. 

 

“Sure, that’s fine, leave me to eat boxed mac and cheese alone. I really appreciate it.” I put the pot of finished boxed mac and cheese on the island on top of a pot holder and open the bowl cupboard. 

 

“No, you know what, I’m alone. Fuck decency.” I close the cupboard and open the silverware drawer, getting out a big spoon meant for dishing out the mac and cheese and sit down at the island, prepared to eat a whole box of mac and cheese all on my own out of the pot with a giant spoon. 

 

“What  _ are _ you doing?” I don’t even flinch when Dark reappears. I look at him just as I lift the spoonful of mac and cheese to my mouth and take a bite. 

 

“I’m living my goddamn life.” I say around an entire mouthful of mac and cheese. He walks around the island to face me without so much as a grimace. 

 

“Is Anti locked away?” I ask him as I take another bite of mac and cheese. 

 

“Yes, he will be gone for fifty years.” Dark taps his fingers against the island, right across the crack he’d left there just a few days ago. He looks…. afraid? Nervous? 

 

“What’s wrong? Is it about Anti?” Fear wrapped its bone-like fingers around my heart, did he lie to me about Anti? 

 

“No, Anti will never be near you again. Will you come with me tonight?” I almost dropped my spoon. 

 

“I’m sorry, is the great big bad Dark asking me to do something instead of just inserting himself in a situation?” Dark gives me his signature unimpressed look as I smile widely at him. 

 

“Where are we going?” I ask while spooning more mac and cheese into my mouth. 

 

“A dinner in the woods.” I give him a nod of agreement, I’d go to dinner with him. 

 

“That sounds okay- wait a second, who put you up to this? Did you read it in a book?” I smile even wider when he gives me another dead eye stare. 

 

“I am doing this of my own volition.” I give him a considerate frown and a ‘hmm’ after he talks. 

 

“Actually, that’s even more surprising. What time?” I scrape some mac and cheese elbows off the side of the pot as I talk. 

 

“Seven o’clock.” And he’s gone again. I sigh and go back to my mac and cheese. 

 

\--*-- 

 

It’s about six o’clock when I realized I haven’t been on a date since I was fourteen. The only thing I know about dates is from movies and that I am very terrible at them. Or maybe I’ll be terrible at them, I’ve been on one singular date in my entire life. Do I wear a dress? Do I curl my hair? How much makeup do I put on? The true questions a girl asks herself when going on a date with a mildly (very) attractive guy. I’ve only just pulled my flats on when Dark pops into my room. 

 

“Okay, what if I was naked? How did you even know I was gonna be ready?”: He gives me a half smile as I stand up from my bed. I turn around to pick up my purse when he speaks again. 

 

“Your body doesn’t faze me.” I whirl around and stare at him with wide eyes. He’s smiling smugly. 

 

“Excuse me?! That is beyond creepy, that’s like, extremely creepy. Don’t watch me shower- ever.” He isn’t the slightest bit fazed by my outburst. He holds out his arm to me and I stare at his elbow for a second. 

 

“Who taught you chivalry?” I slip my arm through his with barely any hesitation. It’s not like he could hurt me, and I couldn’t hurt him, so why be worried? 

 

“The 1700’s.” I try not to roll my eyes, this would be an eyeroll-less night. 

 

We walked down the path that I had made by stomping on the stuck out roots of trees and grass until they learned to stay out of my way. I was a little elephant when I would run through the woods as a kid. By the time Dark and I stopped walking I was sure that we were right on the property line, as a kid I learned very quickly how to remember the property line when my grandmother screamed at me for crossing it one day to chase a bunny. I remembered this clearing. There was a wooden table in the middle of a circle of weeping willow trees. Tiki torches, now lit, surrounded it. Food was already on the table. It looked...amazing. 

 

“This looks amazing.” I say as I sit down at the table. Dark sits across from me with the same smug smile on his face as before. 

 

“Thank you, now eat.” I looked down at my bowl and picked up the spoon next to it. Soup. 

 

“Why are you being so nice to me?” I ask when I’m half-way through my soup and a glass of wine. Was he trying to poison me? Indirectly get me out of his hair? 

 

“It’s a celebration. Anti is gone, you’re safe, and the leader will never find us.” I smile at him and raise my cup as he talks. 

 

“I can drink to that.” I take the final swig of my wine and put the glass down to look up at the stars.

 

When I glance down after a minute Dark is looking up at the stars too. My neck starts hurting Dark suggest moving to lay on the grass like it’s clockwork. I make a comment about Dark getting his suit wet as I lay down next to him on the ground but he acts like he doesn’t hear it. All the way up here in the mountains there was no light pollution to hide the stars, I used to love sneaking out to come right to this spot as a teenager and drink terrible strawberry wine. Usually alone, I didn’t have a lot of friends. I could point out every constellation. Which was what I did, laying on the grass with Dark, tiredly pointing out the constellations until eventually I was too tired to lift my arm and fell asleep. 

 

I opened my eyes, once again in the Void. No one was there this time, not even the shapes that told me to calm down from my yelling last time. I was still glowing, and my hands still felt frigid. I wondered, as I walked towards nothing in particular, if the chill would ever go away. 

 

“Care to dance?” I turn around when I hear Dark’s voice. 

 

The Void seems to move in slow motion as I turn, the fog disappears, the darkness becomes candle light, the unsolid ground become hardwood, the wall-less expanse of darkness becomes marble. My dress I fell asleep in becomes a long ball gown that resembled pale gold. Dark was standing in the middle of the ballroom with his hand outstretched towards me. 

 

“Well I can’t exactly refuse after all of...this, now can I?” He smirks as I talk. My feet are bare under the dress, at least I wasn’t wearing heels. I take his hand as soon as I reach him. 

 

“I don’t know how to dance, you know.” I say as he puts a hand on my waist, leaving the other still holding my hand. 

 

“Take my lead.” ‘Take my lead.’ sounded so simple, but how was I meant to take his lead if I had no idea what I was doing? 

 

I was concentrating so hard on not stepping on his toes that the moment he twirled me around I let out a surprised squeak, which made him smile. He didn't even flinch when I stepped on his toes and I didn't apologize. I had barely noticed. He was so much taller than me, 5’10 was still ten inches above me, my neck hurt from looking up at him. He was gorgeous, at the very least. 

 

He twirled me again, pulling me back into him and dipping me. It was so cheesy that I had to laugh, one arm around his shoulders and the other one on his cheek. He was smiling, really smiling, something I had never seen him do before. When I opened my eyes after laughing he was still looking at me and I felt the mirage of the ballroom slip away. I could feel the fog surround me, but I didn't break eye contact. I wasn’t scared of him, not anymore. 

 

I didn’t even realize my eyes were closed and we were kissing until he stood me up. He kept his hands on my waist, and I kept my hands on his shoulders, neither of us dared to move. We were afraid we’d scare each other off. I have to pull away to breathe, an instinct that I couldn’t abandon even when not having to breathe in the Void. Dark brings a hand to my cheek as I open my eyes. 

 

“I’ll see you when you wake up.” Instead of that falling feeling I get when waking up from a night in the Void, I sort of float, and I know that I’m connected to something solid as if I have an anchor. 

 

When I wake up I’m not on the grass anymore. I’m laying on my bed, still in the dress from the date, the blankets pulled over my legs. I rub my eyes, probably spreading makeup all over my face but I couldn’t care less. I nearly walk right into the wall that is Dark when I exit the bathroom. He’s wearing his suit as usual and he doesn’t budge when I almost run into him. 

 

“Good morning.” I say, walking towards my dresser. He turns around to watch me. 

 

“Bold statement.” Dark says. I roll my eyes. 

 

“Of course you’d be a fan of  _ The Hobbit _ .” I pull a pair of leggings and a tee shirt from the drawers. As I’m about to get dressed I give a pointed look to Dark and twirl my finger. 

 

He turns around and I get dressed. Marlow comes into my room excitedly, jumping on the bed and licking my hand as I go to pet him. I smile. 

 

“Who’s a good boy?” Marlow jumps up as I talk, licking my nose. I laugh and ruffle his fur. 

 

“Gotta go out?” He barks, heading for the back door. Dark follows behind me out the back door, walking beside me towards the clearing. I figured he didn’t clean up, so I grabbed a garbage bag. 

 

A couple things had blown over in the night, and as Dark got to picking up the plates from the ground I walked past a big oak tree to get a cup. 

 

“Anna!” Dark’s voice made me jump, all I did was pick up a cup, what was he so angry about? 

 

“What? All I did was- Ah!” I cut myself off as I was grabbed from behind. I dropped the cup and the garbage bag and brought my hands up to grab the forearm of whoever was currently holding a knife to my throat. They giggled in my ear and I froze. Anti. 

 

“Anti, let her go.” Dark looked dangerous, terrifying. Anti didn’t falter. 

 

“Why would I do that?” Anti asks, his cheek was pressed to the back of my head, I could feel him smiling. Dark puts his arms out at his sides, relaxing his shoulders. A surge of fear rushed through me. 

 

“No- Dark-” I didn’t know why i was scared for him, I’d always thought I’d be better off without him in my life, but he was going to give himself to Anti for me, he’d let Anti kill him. I didn’t want him to die. He looks right at my eyes, he’s so calm, how is he so calm? 

 

“Oh..” Anti laughs, pressing the knife into my neck more, I feel it split my skin. I cry out, afraid for both my life and for Dark’s. Dark’s eyes go from calm to powerfully angry in less than a millisecond. 

 

“You’d give yourself up for her?” Anti laughs again as Dark steps over the property line. 

 

“Release her.” Dark steps even closer as he talks, I could reach out and touch him if I wanted to.

 

“No- Dark- don’t do it-  _ please- _ ” I struggle to lift my hand. He doesn’t even look at me. 

 

Anti takes the knife away from my neck and Dark pulls me forward by my arm. He pushes me back, making me trip over a root and fall into the property lines again. I get to my feet, leaning against a tree and glancing down at my ankle. It was definitely twisted. I tried to walk forward but my ankle gave out. 

 

“Dark!” He glances back at me before looking back to Anti. Anti’s smiling way too big and he’s holding a knife that has sigils engraved in it. My first thought was that something like that was made to kill Dark, not me. 

 

I finally find my footing again and I start running to get back across the property line. I stop dead in my tracks when Dark’s shoulders hunch and the tip of a blade makes it’s way through the back of his suit jacket. I sway where I stand, my hand comes up to cover my mouth in shock. Dark falls and Anti grins at me, his eyes locking with mine, holding the knife in his hands. Blood drips to the ground off of it before he’s gone and Dark is hitting the ground with a thud. 

 

“No!” I run forward again, falling to my knees next to Dark. I turn him onto his back and he looks up at me. I knew I couldn’t be a whole without him. 

 

“No, no, just- just no- okay? You can’t die.” I press my hands into the wound, wondering how the hell I could save him. He brings a hand up as I start crying, he wipes a tear off of my face. 

 

“Don’t die- I can’t- I can’t be complete without you- please-” Dark puts his hand down over mine and shuts his eyes. I press my bloody fingers to his neck, searching frantically for a pulse that isn’t there. 

 

“N-No…” I put my head down on his chest, crying for all it’s worth. I felt like a giant part of my soul has been ripped from me, I felt like I couldn’t breathe, like I couldn’t think a single thought other than ‘He’s gone’. A pair of shoes come into view and I look up at the person with tears in my eyes. 

 

“Do you know who I am?” He’s tall and strong, not a person to be messed with. 

 

“Kill me.” My voice is broken and I look up at him with what I imagine to be the most serious expression I’ve ever had. It’s certainly the most serious about something I’ve ever been. 

 

“I’m not going to kill you.” He crouches down next to Dark as he talks. 

 

“Don’t touch him.” I had the sense that whoever this guy was he was not friendly. He glares at me and puts a hand on Dark’s chest. 

 

Underneath my hands his wound heals itself and Dark opens his eyes. He doesn’t take a deep breath, I don’t think he ever could breathe even if he wanted to. His hand curls over my bloody one and I meet his eyes. 

 

“I thought you were..” He looks from me to the other guy as I talk. 

 

“I was.” He says as he gets to his feet. He stands protectively in front of me. The other guy gives him a smug smile. 

  
“Anna,” Dark says with enough malice in his voice to make my stomach drop to my knees, “meet the Leader.” 


	6. How To Properly Use A Desk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Fighting, blood, smut, so much smut, desk!sex because it's Dark hello do you think i'm stupid.

“This is her.” I look behind me at the property line, he couldn’t hurt either of us there. Dark took another side-step in front of me, he was protecting me. 

 

“This is the one you’re linked to, she’s gorgeous, you lucked out.” The Leader stares me down, what he can see of me anyways. Dark has me almost completely hidden behind his back.

 

“Go to the property line.” Dark says to me, his eyes still locked on the Leader. 

 

“Don’t tell me what to do.” The Leader chuckles when I talk back to Dark. 

 

“I’m sure if he could hurt you, you wouldn’t be talking like that.” The Leader smirks at me pointing a finger at me accusingly, like a parent would to their child. His eyebrows raise and I look back into his eyes, they’re such a bright color of blue that they almost blend in with the whites of his eyes. 

 

“Don’t talk to her.” Dark says threateningly, he puts a hand behind him to give me a nudge in the direction of the property line. 

 

“I just saved your life, you aren’t going to be like that now, are you? All mean and brooding, I haven’t seen you in a different state in three hundred years. I’m sorry, sweetheart, but you really haven’t changed him all that-” In a quick flash, like something out of an anime, Dark backhands the Leader. 

 

“You would dare-” 

 

“Yes, I would dare.” Dark interrupts him for the second time in a minute and I couldn’t stop smiling. 

 

The Leader lifts his hand and Dark goes stiff, falling down onto his side. The Leader shifts his hand and a knife similar to Anti’s glints into focus. I jump over Dark’s side to stand in front of him. 

 

“If you lay a hand on him I will rip your heart and eat in front of you while you die.” I put my hands out at my sides and curl them into fists, I didn’t know how I was going to fight him but at least I could spare Dark a few minutes to bolt. The Leader chuckles. 

 

“What are you going to do to me? I’m the most powerful being in existence.” He holds out the knife and draws closer to me as he talks. My brain screams at me to take a step back but I stay put despite my better judgement. 

 

As soon as he moves to stab me I step forward, trying to push the heel of my palm into his nose but ending up pushing my hands into his chest instead. When the knife makes contact with my side, I don’t feel anything and I assume it’s the adrenaline. As long as I couldn’t feel anything I’d fight until I died, I didn’t have anyone left to live for anyways. He stumbles back a few feet and I look down at my side to assess the damage only to find there isn’t any. The metal knife had splintered and was now laying in little metallic shards on the ground. The Leader shouted and I looked back up in alarm as he ran towards me. I put my hands out to protect myself and shut my eyes in fear. When I opened my eyes again a bright light was being cast from my hands like a shield and the Leader was screaming in pain. I watch him dematerialize before my eyes. I gasp, pulling my hands back as the Leader literally blows away in the wind. 

 

“Okay, what the fuck?” I look down at my hands as Dark gets to his feet, his hands grab my shoulders, steadying me. 

 

I glance up at him, my eyes meeting his. I felt like I was drowning in the after-effects of adrenaline. Before I could stop myself, I was kissing him. My arms wrapped around his shoulders as he kissed me back, his hands splaying across my back to pull me closer to him. He leans down to put his hands on my thighs and lifts me up, making me either wrap my legs around his waist or fall on the ground. I keep my hold on his shoulders, not wanting to hit the ground as he starts walking. How the hell did he know where he was going and still kissing me like an expert? 

 

He kicks open the back door with his foot and then walks into the study. I thought he was going to walk up the stairs to my bedroom but instead he sat me down on the solid mahogany desk. I looked up at him with lust blown eyes and kiss swollen lips. He took off his suit jacket, loosened his tie, and rolled up his sleeves. I slid my hands from his chest to his shoulder, I had never actually touched him before, he was so much more solid than I had imagined him to be. He leaned over me, causing me to lean back, he places his hands next to my hips and stares me down. 

 

“I’m going to fuck you so hard the only thing you’ll remember is _my_ _name_.” I take a deep breath as he talks, my hand coming around to grasp his tie. 

 

“Please do.” I pull him down to kiss me again. His hands worked to pull my pants and underwear down. With minimal difficulty I kick them to the floor. 

 

Dark’s own pants are on the floor by the time mine get there and I look down to notice that- hey- Dark goes commando. His cock lightly hits my stomach and I look back up at him to find him smirking at me. 

 

“Impressed?” He asks through his smirk, raising his eyebrows. I roll my eyes. 

 

“You wish. Go get a condom, you dork.” I push his shoulder and with a subtly hidden groan he walks up the stairs. 

 

I lay back on the desk and smile at the ceiling as I hear him walking above me. I put a hand between my thighs, rubbing circles onto my clit and shutting my eyes with a little whimper. I don’t hear him come back down the stairs and I especially am not expecting him to place his hand over mine. I open my eyes but I don’t move away from him, instead I arch my back up, locking eyes with him and biting my lip. 

 

“Already starting without me?” He asks with yet another smirk. He should get that thing trademarked. 

 

“Shut up.” He smiles, a big toothy grin that makes my heart speed. 

 

I take my hand away from my clit, letting him keep his thumb running circles over it in a way that makes me want to reach out and make him go harder. I wrap my legs around his waist to pull him closer to me. He chuckles and I grab his tie again to pull him down. He’s barely an inch from my face now. 

 

“I said,” I emphasize my words with the tightening of my legs around his waist, “shut up and fuck me.” 

 

“Being assertive? That’s new.” He raises his eyebrows as I let him go, straightening his back again and lining his cock up with my entrance. I stare into his eyes and grab his wrists. 

 

I wasn’t planning to fall apart the second he pushed inside of me but that’s exactly what happened. I remembered the not-hurting rule and wondered, briefly, if it applied to sex as well. Either way, I couldn’t care less, I was nearly spraining his wrists with how hard I was holding onto them as my eyes closed and I leaned my head back against the desk. Dark groaned and leaned over me, his face in my neck, his hands on my hips. I was completely lost in sensation and he hadn’t even moved yet. How did he make me feel like a sixteen year old all over again? 

 

I bring my hands from his wrists to his shoulders, holding onto him and tightening my legs around his hips. He thrusts and I arch my back with a moan far too loud to be considered anywhere close to decent. Dark groans and his hands move from my hips to the desk beside my head. The wood creaks dangerously, either under his hands or under my weight. 

 

“Just fucking go-” I urge Dark with a lift of my hips. 

 

He smiles and starts thrusting slowly. I moan and lay my arms out at my side, my eyes shutting and my head tilting to bare my neck to Dark. He sucks a hickey into my neck as he thrusts his hips. I couldn’t imagine lasting long, no one had ever made me feel this way, ever. This was probably the best sex I ever had. 

 

“Dark…” My voice was broken, raspy and out of control. I didn't know why I was saying his name, I didn't want him to stop or speed up, I just wanted  _ him _ . 

 

“Yes?” His voice is strained, like he’s trying to keep his composure even though I know he’s feeling just as good as I am. 

 

“More~” The word comes out in a drawling whine that makes me sound just as desperate as I am. 

 

Dark brings a hand between our bodies to press slow circles into my clit. I try to dig my nails into his shoulders as I shift my hips with a moan but my fingers don't press down harder than already. I was too distracted by my oncoming orgasm to thinking about my hands. It hit me out of nowhere. All of a sudden my legs were shaking, my hands were searching frantically across his back for something to hold onto, and I was letting out a moan loud enough to break a window. Dark’s hand pressed harder into the wooden surface of the desk beside my head and I could hear the splintering of wood beneath his fingers as my orgasm sparked his own. He grasped my hip, stilling his thrusts and shaking ever so slightly. 

 

“Holy fuck.” I sighed as I talked. Dark chuckled. 

 

“Indeed.” He stood back up to his full height, rolling his shoulders and neck before taking a step back to pull his condom off and throw it away. 

 

He offers a hand to me to help me stand but I sigh again with a smile. 

 

“You’re expecting me to stand after  _ that _ ?” I ask incredulously, to which he gives me a smug smile and I roll my eyes. 

 

“Carry me.” I state, putting my arms up. Reluctantly, Dark lifts me up and walks towards the stairs. He takes them as normally as he would without another person's weight on him. 

 

I slide underneath the blanket and pull them up to cover my boobs as he sits down and opens his book. He was obviously waiting for me to fall asleep so that he could go do whatever it is he doesn while I sleep. I put my head on his shoulder and shuffle a little closer to him. 

 

“Read me something.” He takes a deep breath after I talk and turns back a few pages to the beginning of the story. 

  
“Once upon a time, there lived a beast...” 


End file.
